1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to new and useful improvements in support stands for drums and other musical instruments. More particularly, the present invention relates to a support stand which holds a snare drum or single tenor, for example a marching snare drum.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Referencing FIG. 2 of the patent illustrations appended to these specifications, the reader will see that an exemplary prior art stand for musical instruments, especially for percussion instruments, typically shows the use of a tripod type stand with three or more supports which support the bottom edge of the drum in order to hold the drum in a position which allows the performer to play the instrument with the drumheads in a quasi-horizontal orientation. The supports are adjustable and normally include multiple wing nuts or other tightening methods to hold them in place. Certain other prior art drum stands are briefly described hereinafter.
U.S. Pat. No. 624,662 ('662 Patent), which issued to Leedy, for example, discloses a Drum Stand. The '662 Patent describes a drum stand comprising a head piece having three projections radiating from the center of the top plane thereof, a pair of arms pivoted upon the head piece and extending radially over two of said projections, an arm rigidly secured to the head piece and extending over the other one of said projections, a turned-up lug at the free end of each of said arms, a rib to support each of said pivoted arms laterally at the side opposite said rigid arm, a clamping device at the underside of said head piece, and a supporting stand connected to said clamping device. The Leedy stand appears to be suitable for supporting a single drum.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,433,594 ('594 Patent), which issued to Calo, generally discloses a folding tripod drum stand with a lateral support under the drum which is center supported. More particularly, the '594 Patent describes a drum stand comprising a flat base of extended dimensions, an adjustable telescoping standard rising centrally from the base, a drum-supporting frame, and a ball and socket connection between the standard and the drum-supporting frame to thereby provide a support for the drum frame and in which the support elements are axially aligned and extend normal to the base plane.
The ball and socket members of such connection are carried respectively by the standard and the drum-supporting frame with the ball carried by the drum frame and having its center included within such axial alignment. The ball member has an equatorial roughened zone with the drum frame extending from a polar zone of the ball. The socket member has an open top to permit lateral swing of the drum frame with a limited range, said connection including an adjusting nut cooperative with the socket member to secure the ball member in adjusted position relative to the socket and to release the ball from the socket, the relation of ball and socket being such that co-operation between the equatorial zone of the ball and the socket will be present in all of the adjusted positions of the drum frame.
The drum frame includes an arm secured to and extending from a polar axis of the ball in a direction normal to the equatorial zone. The arm carries a laterally extending element the opposite free ends of which extend angularly to the direction of length of the element and in substantial parallelism to the direction of length of the said arm, said ends each carrying means for removably securing the drum.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,645,253 ('253 Patent) which issued to Hoshino, discloses a Universal Support for Drums. The '253 Patent describes a universal support structure wherein the angular adjustment provided by the universal support for an object supported thereby remains fixed even though the object, such as a drum, has been removed from the universal support. The universal support is capable of holding a support rod relative to a support stand having an attachment member. The universal support includes a receiving member, with a rod press and a support stand press each attached to the receiving member.
The receiving member and the rod press each has a concave surface adapted to accommodate the rod support sandwiched between the contoured surfaces of the receiving member and the rod press. In addition, the receiving member and the support stand press each has a concave surface adapted to accommodate the attachment member of the support stand sandwiched between the concave surface of the receiving member and the support stand press. Thus, the universal support is capable of accommodating the attachment member of the support stand independently of the rod support.
While the above patents and many subsequent patents of the prior art disclose various instrument stands generally, and drum stands particularly, none of the prior art discloses a drum stand utilizing a post which mates to a receiver on the drum together with a lateral support which holds the weight of the instrument in multiple locations to allow for fast, simple, and stable placement of the instrument on the stand. The prior art thus perceives a need for such a drum stand construction as summarized in more detail hereinafter.